That is really very great learning from the mistakes is also an art and courage every one can just talk about their success but identifying the issues and then resolving them is actually called courage and few people have those . GOOD WORK .

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments about NI and our involvement with FIRST and other STEM outreach programs. I am one of the NI mentors for Team 4847 and we had a great time at the FIRST World Championships in St. Louis last week. We placed 25th overall and were matched against FTC teams from all over the world - we even competed against a team from Saudi Arabia!

It has been extremely rewarding for me to watch these students develop into innovative, hard-working young adults. When we started the robotics program at Connally in 2009, we didn't have many members, any equipment or even a work space to build our robot on the weekends. Now, the Connally High School Robotics Program has three different robotics teams and continues to grow each year. Though Connally is a Title I school where 50% of students are at risk to graduate, several of my former students who participated in the robotics program have graduated and are now pursuing engineering degrees at schools like the University of Texas. Others have gone on to continue their education at schools like Brown and Yale. I'm extremely proud of my team and how robotics programs like FIRST continue to inspire talented students to pursue engineering and the sciences.

I think this is the perfect autonomous car ever introduced on the tech world. The technology used to develop this car is just unbelievable; 20 cameras and four laser scanners, is just amazing. The fact that this technology can be integrated in any vehicle makes it even more interesting. It is also interesting that the vision and scanner technology is not that expensive. Another great part is that it can be manned by anyone in the vehicle but with this am not that convince but I will give it benefit of doubt.

This is the most inspiring Cinderella story. I will also like to commend the kind of hard work and dedication of Team 4847. It is really amazing how they managed to make it through to the finals despite the rough times they have been facing. They are real fighters and I wish them well during the World Championships. I would also like to congratulate NI for the support they are giving this team and various engineers outside there, keep it up NI.

Call me a snob but I would never have expected a title 1 school in Austin, 'red-county' to build a functional robot, or any functional robotic part, let alone build one good enough to qualify for a national competition. This story is indeed an eye opener and just goes on to show how much potential lies unharnessed among our youth. If you get the time please give us an update on how the school's robotics program is coming along, I might just check it out next time am in Texas.

The fact that the team chose to learn from what was wrong with the previous effort is very good. True wisdom includes a willingness to learn from mistakes, both one's own and also the mistakes that others make. So it is very inspiring to see that the team chose to learn from errors of the past. I applaude them.

From the article: In addition, it's important that teachers, administrators, and team mentors see the value in these programs and commit their time to give advice, motivate, and help these students succeed.

This is so important and I applaud National Instruments and everyone that is involved in helping these students to become successful. It is amazing what a student can accomplish when someone believes in them and offers help.

Yes, encouragement is a wonderful thing, 78RPM. People tend to follow a path toward things they're good at. If educators don't provide access and a pat on the back occasionally, we can hardly expect more kids to follow technical pathways.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

People who want to take advantage of solar energy in their homes no longer need to install a bolt-on solar-panel system atop their houses -- they can integrate solar-energy-harvesting shingles directing into an existing or new roof instead.

Focus on Fundamentals consists of 45-minute on-line classes that cover a host of technologies. You learn without leaving the comfort of your desk. All classes are taught by subject-matter experts and all are archived. So if you can't attend live, attend at your convenience.